PONY-RACING.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 168, 9 April 1908, Page 6

PONY-RACING.

When • the Council of/; Churches turned its attention last'week to, the pony-racing which has been 5 introduced at. Miramar, it had with it the sympathy of the ,best public opinion. 'The Council, of course, is opposed to horseracing of every kind, or at. least itwould look without disfavour only upon that kind which would not be made the subject of wagers.» Even those who disagree with this extreme view, and who regard horse-racing; with its attendant wagering, as 1 a perfectly legitimate sport when properly conducted, will sympathise with the .Council's alarm at "the indefinite increase of racing days ' in, the vicinity of this City." Enough has already been seen of the pony-racing at Miramar to warrant the verdict that it is an undesirable innovation. Measured by the standard of the pony-races in Australia, the meetings which have so far been held at Miramar' are perhaps conducted . with . unusual decorum. But the determining vices of the Australian system are, nevertheless, to be found in the Miramar meetings. Not one of the reasons that can be put forward in defence of the, meetings held | by registered clubs is available to the proprietary concern operating at Miramar. The racing may or may not be free from " arrangement." ,It probably is, for the-present, but that is quite a minor matter. These meetings have not yet earned the uusavoury reputation which they bear in Australia, where a " pony-meeting" is a carni-1 val of chicanery and fhmd, and the place of assembly for the most vicious classes iii the community; but we fear that the'drift.will be in that direction. Moreover, there is already talk of similar racing at Petone. Unless the new sport at Miramar is checkcd, it may prove a dangerous innovation, and no thoughtful person cau look without concern upon its establishment in a rapidly-growing urban centre. The class of racing at the Miramar meetings disposes at once of the suggestion that it can improve the breed of horses, or olovnto tho sport of .horsa-racing. The gambling is the

attraction of those gatherings) and the only friends of horse-racihg as a clean, sport who attend the races at Hiramnr are those to whom a contest between horses is so stimulating a thing that it is worth seeing, regardless of its circumstances. Most people agree that there is far too much horse-racing in the Dominion already. Nobody can suggest that there should be an increase in the amount of horse-racing. Particularly urgent, therefore, is the need for a legislative restriction upon ''unregistered" meetings. These meetings serve no useful purpose, and they do a great deal of harm by increasing the volume of gambling. The Government last session embodied in a statute the principle' that it is not merely .proper that a class should actually live upon the gambling instinct of mankind, but desirable that the State sliould become aggressive in assisting that class. The least that it' can do in' the way of reparation for this scan'dalous enactment is to legislate in the direction of prohibiting altogether the holding of " unregistered" meetings, just as it prohibits the unlicensed sale of liquor.